To maintain levels of care and service delivery at WellBN, the practice has had to adapt and utilise new ways of working including the use of technology and the diversity of healthcare professionals working in primary care, that is in line with current NHS strategies which accelerated during the pandemic. This enables us to gather relevant information and signpost your query to the most appropriate person or team and response and improve information sharing to support your healthcare.

Many clinical problems can be managed remotely through textual or telephone contacts – without a face-to-face appointment – and many individuals prefer this option and the flexibility it offers. Issues can be managed safely through this method by a team who knows your medical history and can follow up care needs as appropriate. Primary care has the benefit of being responsive and accessible to requirements unlike many other services.

All queries are managed through a unified system called Klinik which patients, receptionists, administration teams and clinicians all have access. At WellBN, clinical queries are managed by our in-house Patient Flow Team who triage the problem, supported by markers to assess clinical urgency, use of protocols, with direct support from an experienced clinician, called the Clinical Lead, and extended clinical team across all sites. If appropriate telephone or face-to-face appointments will be made, considering your preferences including your availability. Sometimes there may be a mismatch between preferences and what has been offered, for example a request for a face-to-face appointment but a text-based consultation given, this decision will have been made based on what is clinically appropriate by the clinical team and may in fact get your problem resolved more quickly.

If you don’t want to use Klinik or can’t for whatever reason, you can still talk to our reception team who will use the same system to gather relevant information. Your queries will follow the same process as outlined. We will always take into account individual issues that may affect use of technology including preferences in communication, privacy, and other personalised adjustments.

Gone are the days of a patient having to book a face-to-face appointment with their GP, after interrogation by a receptionist who then makes the decision, for everything from filling in a form to dealing with new or ongoing health concerns or routine checks as this is clearly not sustainable as demand outstrips availability constantly due to limited resources. This is something we all have to accept as a reality but WellBN has developed new processes to meet this challenge and develop other approaches too, for example, group consultations, self-management strategies, social prescribing.

Encompassing a shared-care approach to manage healthcare needs is vital, so sometimes this will need online questionnaires to be completed, patients or parents taking swabs themselves, accessing other health information, self-care including self-referrals and seeing a community pharmacist. Alongside this approach the expansion of healthcare professionals and support staff who are available will help to improve direct care and these include: Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners, Advanced Care Practitioners, Paramedics, Physician Associates, Practice Nurses, Nursing Associates, Healthcare Assistants, First Contact Practitioners and Pharmacists supported by Receptionists and the Administration Team in addition to Doctors. It is appropriate for minor illnesses or injuries to be managed by clinicians other than Doctors; and it is appropriate for patients to discuss medication issues directly with the Pharmacists or seeing a First Contact Practitioner with a musculoskeletal specialism about their joint pains without needing to see a Doctor first. Frequently, it is more appropriate to see a clinician other than a Doctor as you’ll get a more effective consultation, and this will free-up Doctors or other senior clinicians for more complex cases.

Please see the link for self-care and self-referral options before contacting the practice,

especially as we will be entering winter pressures soon.

If you do need to contact us, use the Klinik service or call reception on 01273 772020.